What is quickly typed and spoken today on a mobile phone was previously delivered by the postman for more than a century and a half - the quick, short message. But the analogue service is no longer used. At the turn of the year, Swiss Post is now terminating its telegram service.
For a long time it was one of the fastest forms of message transmission - but now the post office is discontinuing its telegram service. This is reported by the paketda.de portal, citing the company. This ends a piece of postal and cultural history. The last telegrams are therefore delivered on New Year's Eve. In addition, Swiss Post has also decided to end postage stamp vending machines. They will gradually disappear.
Anyone who absolutely wants to send an analogue short info again - probably not infrequently for the first time - must invest considerably: the DAX group only starts moving from at least 12.57 euros. For the long form including a decorative leaf, even 21.98 euros are called. The deadline for entries is New Year's Eve at 3:00 a.m.
The message sent by Samuel Morse in 1844 is commonly cited as the first telegram. Telegrams have been sent in Germany for a good 150 years. At peak times it was more than ten million a year. But the nationwide introduction of telephones and later digital communication meant the end of officially delivered short messages. Until then, however, mostly congratulations were sent by telegram, visits were announced or canceled and newcomers were welcomed.
With reference to the "Rheinische Post", the portal also reports that the postage stamp machines will also disappear. Due to a lack of spare parts, the already vulnerable machines would no longer be replaced. Three years ago, a good 1,200 of the more than 30,000 machines in Germany were still in service.
